A REFUGE IN THE MIDST OF CRISIS

  

A REFUGE IN THE MIDST OF CRISIS   

“Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion: and unto thee shall the vow be performed. O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.  ” (Psalm 65:1-2) 

The Lord also brought us out of a horrible pit; out of the miry clay, and set our feet upon a rock, and established our song. And he hath put a new song in our mouth, even praise unto our God. Many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.  

Beloved, I welcome you into the new month of A New Dawn because I am convinced in my spirit that something good and spectacular shall come your way (Amen). Henceforth, no more setbacks for you! The siege over your family and business is now over; you will never suffer oppression anymore in Jesus name (Amen).

Friend, we give God the glory and honour for the perfect revelation of last month through His word (CROSS; The mystery of God’s mercy). I believe that God wants us to live a victorious life continuously; that is why He used the platform of last month’s edition to reveal some strategic truths to us on how to have an edge over the enemy of our soul. 

With so much pain in my heart, I have come to observe that many people are at the crossroad of life. The living condition of many people is becoming increasingly horrible and most pitiable. There is betrayal of trust everywhere; in marriages, businesses and even in the neighbourhood. People find it so difficult to tolerate one another; and many are quick to react negatively at the slightest provocation. People find it difficult to forgive one another. The resultant effect of this is that many lives and property have been destroyed, and destinies ruined due to bitterness induced by the enemy.  Obviously, the signs of the end time are becoming more real than ever. 

The signs are evident everywhere! Predictions of the Bible are happening! We hear, watch, and read about them in media reports. We see them with our eyes too. They are real, and they are happening. Jesus says, “When ye shall see all these things, know that it is near even at the door” (Matthew 24:33).

What are the predictions of the Bible concerning the end time? First, Jesus prophesied that there will be international conflicts, communal clashes, droughts, killer diseases and natural disasters, “For Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places” (Matthew 24:7). Evidently, these events are commonplace in our world today. In 2008 to be precise, the world witnessed the worst global economic recession in history. Most economies were almost grounded to a halt as inflation hit the highest rate. Reports say some business tycoons committed suicide because of the collapse of their business empires. Up till now, the economic meltdown is still biting hard everywhere. While many countries, especially those in Africa, are ravaged by droughts and starvation, the world’s strongest economies are struggling to survive. 

Earthquakes, hurricanes and natural disasters are also rocking different parts of the world, destroying lives and properties. Today, we hear of tsunami, hurricane Katrina, hurricane Lenny, and various kinds of storms occurring in different places. Over 5,000 earthquakes were reported to have hit Mexico alone in recent years. Killer infections and diseases such as HIV/AIDS, cancer, and sometime back, ebola and Lassa fever, Covid  were also terminating the lives of men and women across the globe. What shall we say of the numerous conflicts, violence, and wars in almost every part of the world? You name them: Gaza, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, etc. Let us also talk about the different forms of terrorism, extremism, Jihadism, radicalism,the activities of bandist, Kidnappers, Ritualists and insurgency – that daily claim hundreds of lives everywhere, especially in Nigeria and the Middle East. All these happenings are clear signs that the time we live in is the end of time. 

Secondly, the Lord foretold of widespread activities of false prophets and teachers, “For there shall arise false Christ, and false prophets and shall shew great signs and wonders; inasmuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect (Matthew 24:24). These teachers with itching ears, as Apostle Paul described them (2 Timothy 4:3), do not only teach heresies, but also perform false miracles (Revelation 19:20) to deceive people and draw a large crowed following after them. Some of them even call themselves the Christ.

Moreover, ages before Christ’s First Advent, God revealed to Prophet Daniel that knowledge would increase in the end time, “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased” (Daniel 12:4). Even with vast amount of civilization, majority of people in history never travelled more than twenty miles from their birthplace, but today, someone can literally fly anywhere in the world in less than 24 hours. And with the advent of satellite and the internet, one can sit in the comfort of his home and watch events elsewhere in the world as they happen live. What about the great improvement in communication occasioned by the coming of mobile phones, especially the 3G,4G and even the 5G networks smart phones! Knowledge and technology had remained relatively constant for most of history. Only in the 21st century did our world see an astronomical increase in the capacity to acquire knowledge. 

Moreover, we will mention here the large-scale apostasy in the Church: departing from sound doctrine and peddling of falsehood, backsliding, worldliness, same-sex marriage, hypocrisy, pleasure-seeking and the love of money which has led many into committing all sorts of atrocities. Paul, speaking through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, had predicted in 1 Timothy 4:1-2 that “….In the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with hot iron.”

Beloved, with all these happening right before our eyes, what can we do? Many are preoccupied with several seemingly unanswered questions on their minds. Questions like: What will I do? Where will I go to get solution? Who will help me out of this present predicament? What is the way out? When will the help even come to me?  A similar question was asked Apostle Peter and his apostolic team in Acts 2:37 after he had preached to a mammoth crowd and won about 3,000 souls to Christ at a crusade on the day of Pentecost:

“Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?” 

While reflecting on the pertinent end time induced questions above, I discovered that the best thing to do to escape the severe tragedies and challenges of life is to do the needful by consciously embracing the following spiritual truths:

A) Keep Away from Sin and Receive Rest for your Soul

Man’s surest source of rest is Jesus Christ because He never breaks His promises (Matthew 11:28-29; 2 Corinthians 1:20). In John 16:33, He assured us that as long as we are in this world, tribulations and problems will come, but because He successfully overcame them, He will see us through if we put our trust in Him. Therefore, because He overcame and we are following in His footsteps, we are also bound to overcome. Are you struggling with sin and expressing doubts on whether you can ever overcome like Jesus did? Fear not and do not doubt! You can overcome that besetting sin! The truth with such sins is that the one who keeps falling into them has not truly made up his or her mind to stop them. The Bible declares that sin shall not have dominion over you, and God cannot lie (Romans 6:14). If you are therefore falling into sin and you probe yourself a little deeper, you will find some level of tolerance for that sin, or some excuse you always give for why you cannot stop committing that sin, or even some iota of likeness for that sin. If the devil can find any of these in you, he will celebrate, knowing that any of these can keep you perpetually at the bus stop of that sin. If you are serious about stopping a bad habit, you will have zero-tolerance for it. 

“To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.” (Revelation 3:21)

God does not have double standard in His criteria. Jesus says you must be prepared to overcome the same way He overcame while He was here on earth. You can run the Christian race without stress when you follow in His steps. Have you taken time to study the life of Jesus? Have you noted how He responded to temptations, sin, enemies, friends, difficulties, lack, needs, challenges in ministry, and betrayal by associates? God expects you to respond as Jesus did in all these situations. If you do so, you will be granted access to the privileges reserved for overcomers in Heaven. 

B) Look beyond Your Challenges and Focus on Jesus 

The power of vision is one very crucial lesson we can learn from Elisha’s unshakeable focus when his master was about to be taken up to heaven (2 Kings 2:1-15). Vision gives direction. What you see is what you attain, and what you focus on determines what comes to you in life. You can never rise above your vision! While speaking to Abraham concerning His promise that Abraham’s descendants would inherit the land of Canaan, the Lord plainly told him that what he would possess would be determined by the extent of his vision. Genesis 13:15 says, 

“For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.”

People have often said that what the mind can conceive can be achieved. What can you see? Do you see Negative or positive? What can you picture or envision concerning your future? For your mind to be able to see clearly, you have to be born again and have a recreated spirit which is capable of seeing things the way God sees them (Romans 12:2). 

In addition, what you focus on is equally very important. This is because what you focus on expands and fills your sight. Your focus affects you significantly, shapes your life and determines what you attract to yourself. The sons of the prophets in all three locations Elijah visited before his rapture to heaven focused on loss. They focused on the fact that their national prophet would soon be raptured, and they would soon be without their leader. Consequently, that was exactly what they got. On the other hand, Elisha focused on his singular goal of receiving a double portion of the Spirit of his master, Elijah and he got it. We have a way of attracting what we focus on. What or who is your focus? Hebrew 12:2 says we should look unto Jesus, In other words, it says we should make Jesus Christ our focus. Furthermore, 2 Corinthians 3:18 says;

“But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

When we focus on Jesus, we will begin to change from what we are to what He is. Focusing on Jesus is a major change medium that will definitely make us what we ought to be. Until you focus on Him, you will unknowingly be focusing on other things, individuals or even yourself. What is your focus today? 

C) Make Jesus Your Refuge and Strength 

When you have God as your Refuge, you stand to derive numerous benefits. Having God as your Refuge places you in an advantageous position and makes you truly blessed. One of the blessings that money cannot buy is having divine coverage over your life that keeps you safe from the enemy. If you consider your strengths and weaknesses, and take stock of the opportunities and threats you are exposed to continuously, you will realize that having God as a Refuge is a priceless benefit indeed.  With God as your cover, you are shielded from so many attacks of the enemy. Even the losses that are programmed to come your way are terminated by God before they get to you. If you are not yet enjoying the strength of God’s cover, you are experiencing a big minus in your life. 

Another benefit of having God as your Refuge is that His strength will be made available to help you in times of trouble. Speaking about God’s strength, 1 Corinthians 1:25 gives this insight; 

“...and the weakness of God is stronger than man.”

In several scriptures, God promised to help us in times of need. For instance, Psalm 50:15 says, 

“And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.” 

If God is not your Refuge and you call on Him when you need help, He may not respond to you. On the other hand, He easily responds to those under His coverage. Are you under God’s coverage? Is He your Refuge?

Moreover, when God is your Refuge, no matter what happens, there is no cause for alarm. Just think about this for a minute: Psalm 46:2-3 says that as long as you are under God’s coverage, when there is an earthquake and uproar in the seas, or even if the mountains are blown off their locations, you will still be safe where you are, praise God! It is an anomaly for you to be under God’s protective coverage and still be afraid of the storms of life. 

Beloved, do not be scared of the storms confronting you! Don’t be afraid of the earthquake! Don’t even shake when the unmovable are moved from their secured places. Why? As long as God is your Refuge, you cannot be moved. Whatever cannot move God cannot move you. If out of fear, you have been displaced from under God’s coverage, in the Name of Jesus Christ, as you repent of your lack of faith, the Lord will return you to the place of His refuge! With God as your Refuge, there is no shaking for you!

Beloved, before all these benefits can be notable in our lives, we must separate ourselves from sins because sin brings reproaches Proverbs 14:34.says “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.”

Just as the repercussions of sins can affect every facet of life, so also salvation becomes the platform of recovery for every area of life that has been devastated by sin. When a sinner comes in contact with the Lamb of God and His blood, his or her sins are washed away and all the devastating effects of sin can be reversed in one day. Take for instance, the impotent man in John 5:2-14, who was sick for 38 years, immediately he saw Jesus, he was healed. From that moment, he stopped failing, hope came up to his hopelessness, he was able to fellowship with people in his Church, peace came to his life and joy returned to his heart. All these happened in one day. When you give your life to Jesus and He saves your soul, peace and joy will suddenly flood your heart. From that moment, you have access to all the precious promises of God. You can claim them and they will become reality in your life. 

“Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.”  

1 Peter 2:24    

God’s process for healing is revealed in the above scripture. First is the transfer of your sins to the crucified body of Jesus Christ by faith, and thereafter comes healing. Many people want God to first roll away their sickness. It doesn’t work that way! Any prophet, man of God or Pastor who promises to heal you without the experience of salvation from sin must be avoided like a plague. Why? It is because instead of a miracle from God, you might be getting magic from Satan, and you can be certain that Satan is a very wicked taskmaster. Moreover, quite a number of sicknesses and diseases are caused by sin.  The moment you settle the issue of sin at the cross of Jesus Christ, healing will then be released. Are you sick and still wallowing in sin? Give your life to Jesus now! Renounce every link with the devil, break every covenant with demons and commit your life to Christ.  Ask God to forgive you for your life of sin and promise never to return to that life. Ask Him to come into your heart as Lord and Saviour today. If you have truly done these from your heart, I command every sickness or disease hibernating inside your body to be uprooted now in Jesus name! 

If you would like to give your life to Jesus pray thus:

Lord Jesus, I come to you today according to your word that says, “him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” John 6:37. I am a sinner and I cannot help myself, forgive me of all my sins, cleanse me with your precious blood. Deliver me from sin and Satan to serve the living God. Today, Lord Jesus, I receive you as my Lord and Saviour. Thank you for saving me because I believe in you (Amen). 

PREVAILING PRAYER IN SPIRITUAL WARFARE AND TO TAKE BACK WHAT BELONGS TO YOU

1. I receive help from above concerning every matter in my life. 

2. I command the blessings of God to manifest in every area of my life.

3. I decree that the enemy should fall into the pit that he dug for me. 

4. I decree that every tongue that rises against me be condemned.

5. I decree that the purpose of God for my life shall be fulfilled excellently.

6. I decree long life and prosperity for me and my family.

7. I decree multiple breakthroughs and open doors of mercy upon myself and family.

8. I decree success and completion of every good thing (Projects) I started.

9. I receive the help and the comfort ministry of the Holy Spirit in every situation in my life.

10. Father, expose and disgrace all the enemies that are against your will for my life. 

11. Father, show me revelations and visions that will lead me to victory.

12. Father, give me wisdom on what to do, how to do it on every matter. 

13. Begin to recover back everything that the enemy stole from you. Pray this prayer aggressively. 

Conclusion: But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. God has given me the victory. Hallelujah, for the Lord God reigneth. This is our New Dawn in the name of Jesus.     

     

 HEALING  THE BROKEN HEARTED(TRAUMA) 

Mathew 24:4-12

Trauma is everywhere. According to UNHCR over 3.2 million people are displaced, including over 2.9 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the north-eastern Nigeria in addition, the American Security Project Report of 2021, stated that about 200,000 people have fled from their communities in the Northern Nigeria this year, with 77, 000 of them crossing the border in search of a safer place (Mathew 22:16-19). In the first month of the year 2021, about 2,371 persons were reported, kidnapped in the country, not to even mention Corona and poverty. Mathew 24:21

“Trauma is one of the largest health challenges all over the world. Trauma can create a barrier to people(resentment). Hearts are hardened with pain, anger, and bitterness. 

Trauma Healing (Healing the Wounds of Trauma How the Church and the society can help) is designated to equip everyone with basic mental health and Biblical principle so that they are better able to respond to their own inner pain and that of others. Before we go further on this subjects matter, here is a story to buttress my points

The story of Raphael 

Raphael and his wife Janet lived in a small village. They had two children living at home and one older son named Elijah who was in the nearby town working as a teacher. One night some bandits invaded the village and set fire to the houses. Raphael, Janet, and their children managed to run away. As they ran, Janet looked behind and screamed as she saw a bandits cutting off Raphael’s arm with a machete. 

Not long after, they heard some trucks arriving, and the bandits quickly got into them and left the village, Janet ran back to Raphael and was able to stop the bleeding from the stump of his arm. They went to the local hospital where the wound was treated and stitched. After a little while Raphael’s wound got healed. 

Raphael began to learn to farm with only one arm. Although he did his best, he was angry with everyone. He started beating his wife and children and quarreling with all the neighbors, Raphael’s friends never talked about his missing arm. They just pretended nothing had happened. For Raphael, his whole life had changed, and he could not pretend that nothing had happened. Raphael believed that men should not talk about their problems, and so he kept his feelings inside. 

Janet was not angry with people, but she felt very sad inside. She was not interested in eating very much and often wanted to die. Sometimes when she was alone in the house, she became very frightened for no particular reason. Both she and Raphael had trouble in sleeping and often had nightmares. One day, she began to tell a friend from church how miserable and frightened she felt, but her friend told her, Oh, Janet, Christians should not have those kinds of feelings”. This made Janet feel ashamed of her feelings, she never want to talk to anyone else about how she felt.

When Elijah heard the news of the bandits attack, he was horrified. He been a very good teacher up to this point, but now he started to lose interest in his job. At night he drank a lot with his friends and was often late arriving at school in the morning. Elijah often had headaches and stomachaches, but the clinic could not find anything wrong with him.

Raphael, Janet and Elijah were all Christians and went to church regularly. Every Sunday the pastor told them what God wanted them to do. “Make sure you give money to the church. Come and work on my farm to serve the church”. The pastor noticed that some people in his church had changed their behavior for the worse since the troubles, and he thought the solution was to preach more about how God was angry with them for not obeying his laws. 

THE CONSEQUENCE OF THE HORRIBLE EVENT ON THE VICTIMS

1. Besides the loss of Raphael’s arm, what else has he lost? He lost his Skills, harmonious relationship with his wife and friends, Empathy and sleep.

2. What has Janet lost? She lost the original Raphael (Husband), Courage, Happiness, sleep and Health.

3. What has their older son (Elijah) lost? He lost the original Raphael (The father), Character, and Health.

Beloved, these are the realities of what is happening in our society at the moment due to Joblessness (unemployment), accidents, calamities or tragedy, unstable economics policies(uncontrolled infinatio rates resulting to the sky rocketing of prices of commodities, political unrest, Social menaces, rapes, robberies disappointment and betrayal of trust. There are high rates of nagging, murmuring, complaining in many homes and family. People found it difficult to tolerates one another due to emotional wounds of the heart. The available statistics shows that there are high rate of divorce and crime cases in various courts across the country. There are tensions everywhere. people are faced with a limited income for unlimited responsibilities in the midst of uncertainty (2Timothy 3:1-7

         Friends, Reference to the above story of Raphael, Janet and their son Elijah, please kindly think of people you know. What are the things they have lost? What are the behavioral patterns in the neighborhoods? Let us look at these questions:

What is a wound of the heart?

Some experiences in life are very painful. They can cause deep suffering which lasts long time. This is what we call “trauma”. Trauma is a deep wound of the heart and mind that takes a long time to heal. It hurts every part of our lives, how we relate to others, how our body feels, what we think about, and how much we can trust God. It can make us feel separated from God and others. We may feel like we are no longer the same person as before.

Trauma can be caused by a single event, a prolonged event, or repeated events. It overwhelms us with intense fear, helplessness, or horror, and there is nothing we can do to stop it from happening. 

What types of events can cause trauma?

Our hearts can also be wounded, or traumatized, when we hear the details of someone else’s experience of trauma, especially if that person is a close family member or friend. This is referred to as secondary trauma. The experience shows that trauma always involves loss, but we can experience loss and grief without trauma (for example, after the expected death of an elderly parent). Not all emotional pain is trauma, and not all problem behaviors are the result of trauma. 

A heart wound is like a physical wound. 

Physical Wound compare with the Heart Wound in some cases

The physical wound is visible while the heart wound is invisible

It is painful and must be treated with care while heart wound is treated with love and cares 

If ignored, it is likely to get worse 

It must be cleaned to remove any foreign objects or dirt while the heart wound must be treated to avoid negative imaginations and demonic strong hold in the minds

If a wound heals on the surface With infection still inside, it will cause the person to become very sick. Only God brings healing, but often uses people and medicine to do so. 

If not treated, it often attracts files while the other attract pity from men

It takes time to heal. A healed wound may leave a scar.

How do people with wounded hearts behave?

When our hearts are wounded, it affects our lives. We may behave in three main ways: reliving the experience, avoiding reminders of the trauma, and being at alert all the time.

A) Reliving the experience thinking about the event all the time feeling like we are back in the event while awake (flashbacks) or asleep (nightmares) telling everyone about what happened over and over again. Any of these makes it hard to concentrate (at work or school) 

B) Avoiding reminders of the trauma   

Avoiding anything that brings back memories of the event (places, people) going numb, such as not caring about what happens to us, not being disturbed by violence or seeing dead bodies not remembering what happened, or only remembering parts of it using drugs, alcohol, pornography, work, food, or other addictive behaviors to avoid our feelings completely refusing to talk about it.

C) Being at alert all the time 

Always feeling tense, jumpy, frightened living in dread of another bad thing happening overreacting with violence or anger struggling to fall asleep, waking in the night, or waking early in the morning shaking, having fast or irregular heartbeat having headaches and stomachaches, feeling dizzy or fainting, difficulty in breathing, panic and attacks. 

What does the Bible teaches us about expressing our feelings?

As you read the verses below, consider the following questions: 

1. What is happening around us? 

2. How are people expressing their feelings? 

Mathew 26;37-38 (Jesus) John 11:33-35 (Jesus) 

Mathew 26;75 (Peter) Jonah 4:1-3 (Jonah)

1 Samuel 1:10, 13-16 (Hannah) Psalms 55:4-6 (David)

What can help our wounded heart healed? 

One way we get pain out of our hearts is by talking about it. Even if we talk to God about our bad experiences, telling another person about what happened is an important part of healing. As we share our pain with another person, little by little our reactions will become less and less intense. We may need to tell our story many times. But if we are not able to talk about our pain, and if there is no one to listens to us, these reactions may continue for months and even years.

When we talk with someone who listens well, it can help us; gain and honest understanding of what happened and how it has affected us, express our feelings about what happened accept what happened. Feels heard and know we are not alone. Trust that God also wants to hear about our pain (Psalm 62:8).As a Christian, please be the reasons why somebody is still smiling.

Jesus said; “Come unto me, all ye that labour and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for l am meek and lowly in heart: and he shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Mathew 11:28-29